slow burn
a gradual building up of anger, as opposed to an immediate outburst: I did a slow burn as the conversation progressed.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use slow burn in a sentence
But the real drama would develop during long slow burn that came next.
‘The Leftovers’ Review: A Fever Dream You Can’t Wake Up From | Andrew Romano | June 29, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAlex Edwards, Founder of Natural High, agrees with this slow-burn philosophy.
The Americans has given us both a chilly pleasure and a slow burn in the proximity of its antagonists.
Quincy described his show as a “slow burn” with a “nice, melancholy sweetness to it like Charlie Brown.”
‘Out There’: Ryan Quincy’s Take on Those Awkward High School Years | Jean Trinh | February 22, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThere are “not a lot of Rwandas, but a lot of slow-burn horrific conflicts,” she said.
Obama Announces Board Aimed at Preventing Next Genocide | Sarah Wildman | April 24, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
The blows were weak, for I was still dazed; but they served, together with the slow burn of my anger, greatly to steady me.
Gold | Stewart White
British Dictionary definitions for slow burn
a steadily penetrating show of anger or contempt
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with slow burn
Slowly increasing anger. It is often put as do a slow burn, meaning “gradually grow angrier,” as in I did a slow burn when he kept me waiting for three hours. The burn in this idiom comes from burn up in the sense of “make furious.” The term was first cited in 1938 and was closely associated with comedian Edgar Kennedy.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Browse